Study Bava Kamma folio 116B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
להביא כרוב ודורמסקנין לחולה, והלך ומצאו שמת או שהבריא – נותן לו שכרו משלם!
to bring cabbage and plums to an ill person, and he went and found that the patient had already died or recovered, the employer nevertheless gives the worker his entire wage. Evidently, one is paid for his efforts even if the desired result is not accomplished. Accordingly, the rescuer’s stipulation should apply, and one should be obligated to pay another for attempting to salvage his donkey even if he did not actually succeed in doing so.
אמר ליה: מי דמי?! התם עביד שליח שליחותיה, הכא לא עביד שליח שליחותיה.
R' Yehuda HaNasi said to him: Are those two cases comparable? There, in the case of the ill person, the agent performed his assignment, as he procured and delivered the foods to the ill person, but here, in the case of the donkeys, the agent did not perform his assignment, as he was unable to rescue the animal from the river.
תנו רבנן: שיירא שהיתה מהלכת במדבר, ועמד עליה גייס לטורפה – מחשבין לפי ממון, ואין מחשבין לפי נפשות.
§ Apropos the episode involving Rav Safra, the Talmud discusses the division of expenses among travelers in a caravan. A baraita states: In the case of a caravan that was traveling in the desert and a troop of bandits stood over it in order to attack and pillage it, and the members of the caravan agreed to pay ransom to the bandits, they calculate each traveler’s contribution according to the amount of money he is carrying, and they do not calculate according to the number of souls in the caravan, i.e., the expense is not divided equally among the travelers.
ואם שכרו תייר ההולך לפניהם – מחשבין אף לפי נפשות; ולא ישנו ממנהג החמרין.
But if they hired a scout who travels in front of them and leads them safely through the desert, the travelers calculate each one’s contribution to paying the scout’s wages even according to the number of souls. And they should not differ from the usual custom of donkey drivers, who often have set procedures for such situations.